The Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) is a water governance body designated to identify and resolve critical water issues for the Okanagan watershed in British Columbia, Canada. It was set up to implement the recommendations of the Okanagan Basin Study, [1] and to take on a range of responsibilities for water management. The OBWB’s jurisdiction is defined by the geographic borders of the Okanagan Basin [2] rather than political boundaries. [3]
The Okanagan, also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of the Okanagan Country, extending into the United States as Okanogan County in north-central Washington. According to the 2016 Canadian census, the region's population is 362,258. The primary city is Kelowna.
British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. With an estimated population of 5.016 million as of 2018, it is Canada's third-most populous province.
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States, stretching some 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, with 70% of citizens residing within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.
Water is one of the most precious and important natural assets in the Okanagan Basin. Even though the Basin is endowed with several large lakes, the supply of clean, reliable water is inherently limited by the semi-arid to arid climate, which brings minimal precipitation and high evaporation and evapotranspiration rates. In fact, according to Statistics Canada the Okanagan Basin has the lowest, per capita availability of fresh water in Canada. Water shortages have already occurred in some areas of the Basin, and are expected to occur more widely and frequently in the future.
A region is arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Environments subject to arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most "arid" climates straddle the Equator; these places include parts of Africa, South America, Central America, and Australia.
Climate is defined as the average state of everyday's weather condition over a period of 30 years. It is measured by assessing the patterns of variation in temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological variables in a given region over long periods of time. Climate differs from weather, in that weather only describes the short-term conditions of these variables in a given region.
Evapotranspiration (ET) is the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth's land and ocean surface to the atmosphere. Evaporation accounts for the movement of water to the air from sources such as the soil, canopy interception, and waterbodies. Transpiration accounts for the movement of water within a plant and the subsequent loss of water as vapor through stomata in its leaves. Evapotranspiration is an important part of the water cycle. An element that contributes to evapotranspiration can be called an evapotranspirator.
The OBWB does not have regulatory authority, but has taxation powers to support its activities, there is only one other example of this in the province- The Municipal Finance Authority. The OBWB operates primarily as regional service delivery body focusing on incentive-based programs, which provide support in different ways for projects promoting good water management. As the OBWB assesses funds from all Basin residents, initiatives are focused on activities that have valley-wide benefits. Nine of the twelve Directors are elected officials appointed by the three Okanagan regional districts, and (since 2006) the Okanagan Nation Alliance, the Water Supply Association of BC, and the Okanagan Water Stewardship Council each appoint an additional Director.
The Okanagan Nation Alliance is a First Nations Tribal Council in the Canadian province of British Columbia, spanning the Nicola, Okanagan and Similkameen Districts of the Canadian province of British Columbia and also the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington state of the United States of America.
At the time of the OBWB’s inception, algal blooms and other signs of deteriorating lake water quality and the explosive invasion of Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) were the most serious water issues in the Basin. For many years the OBWB’s activities focused almost exclusively on these areas, bringing significant improvements to water quality and the aesthetics of Okanagan beaches. Several factors over the past thirty years, including rapid population growth, increased awareness of climate change, and the forest fires [4] and drout, [5] reinforced calls to refresh the OBWB’s mandate. In 2006, the OBWB took on a new Water Management Initiative and a more active leadership role in the valley.
An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems, and is recognized by the discoloration in the water from their pigments. Cyanobacteria were mistaken for algae in the past, so cyanobacterial blooms are sometimes also called algal blooms. Blooms which can injure animals or the ecology are called "harmful algal blooms" (HAB), and can lead to fish die-offs, cities cutting off water to residents, or states having to close fisheries. Also, a bloom can block out the sunlight from other organisms, and deplete oxygen levels in the water. Also, some algae secrete poisons into the water.
Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological characteristics of water. It is a measure of the condition of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species and or to any human need or purpose. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through treatment of the water, can be assessed. The most common standards used to assess water quality relate to health of ecosystems, safety of human contact, and drinking water.
Myriophyllum spicatum is native to Europe, Asia, and north Africa, but has a wide geographic and climatic distribution among some 57 countries, extending from northern Canada to South Africa. It is a submerged aquatic plant, grows in still or slow-moving water, and is considered to be a highly invasive species.
The new Water Management Initiative brought the OBWB closer to its original mandate from 1969-1970. The OBWB’s purpose is now stated as: “Providing leadership to protect and enhance quality of life in the Okanagan Basin through sustainable water resource management”.
Over the period of this initiative, OBWB has been increasingly effective at promoting best practices and improving communication between jurisdictions. The OBWB has also had great success partnering with provincial agencies – especially in support of regional water science and monitoring.
The Great Artesian Basin (GAB), located in Australia, is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over 1,700,000 square kilometres (660,000 sq mi), with measured water temperatures ranging from 30–100 °C (86–212 °F). The basin provides the only source of fresh water through much of inland Australia.
Kalamalka Lake is a large lake in the interior plateau of southern central British Columbia, Canada, east of Okanagan Lake and approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south of Vernon. The lake is named after the Okanagan Indian chief who occupied its northern shores.
The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) is a non-profit, non-governmental international network of forest scientists, headquartered in Austria.
Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in the vadose zone below plant roots and, is often expressed as a flux to the water table surface. Groundwater recharge also encompasses water moving away from the water table farther into the saturated zone. Recharge occurs both naturally and through anthropogenic processes, where rainwater and or reclaimed water is routed to the subsurface.
Water supply and sanitation in Mexico is characterized by achievements and challenges. Among the achievements is a significant increase in access to piped water supply in urban areas as well as in rural areas between 1990 and 2010. Additionally, a strong nationwide increase in access to improved sanitation was observed in the same period. Other achievements include the existence of a functioning national system to finance water and sanitation infrastructure with a National Water Commission as its apex institution; and the existence of a few well-performing utilities such as Aguas y Drenaje de Monterrey.
The Okanagan Basin spans two countries and comprises the basin of Okanagan Lake, the Okanogan River and tributary valleys such as that of the Similkameen and Chelan Rivers. In Canada the basin constitutes two distinct regions within British Columbia, the Similkameen Country to the west and the main Okanagan region running from the communities of Osoyoos in the south to Armstrong in the north – incorporating most of the three Okanagan regional districts and is usually known as "the Okanagan" or as the Okanagan Valley or the Okanagan Country. In the United States, the Okanogan Country is the western, lowland core of Okanogan County, which like its Canadian counterpart has a history and economy based on ranching, gold, fruit orcharding and vineyards, but the basin includes Lake Chelan and other flanking valleys. Communities in Washington's Okanogan Basin include Pateros, Omak, Okanogan, Oroville and Brewster.
Water resources in many parts of Mexico are under stress, especially in the arid northwest and central regions where most of the population lives and most of the economic activities are located. The country has put in place a system of water resources management that includes both central (federal) and decentralized institutions.
The University of British Columbia's Okanagan Campus is a campus of the University of British Columbia, located in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. It is home to close to 9,700 undergraduate and graduate students. The 209-hectare (516-acre) campus is the research and innovation hub in the southern interior of the province, in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.
The Okanagan Desert is the common name for a semi-arid area located in the South Okanagan Valley region of British Columbia, Canada, primarily around the town of Osoyoos. Part of the area is called the Nk'mip Desert by the Osoyoos Indian Band, though the entire region, like other similar parts of the British Columbia Interior, is technically a semi-arid shrub-steppe.
The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is a partnership among the Nile riparian states that “seeks to develop the river in a cooperative manner, share substantial socioeconomic benefits, and promote regional peace and security”. The NBI began with a dialogue among the riparian states that resulted in a shared vision objective “to achieve sustainable socioeconomic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources." It was formally launched in February 1999 by the water ministers of nine countries that share the river: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as Eritrea as an observer. From its beginning the Nile Basin Initiative has been supported by the World Bank and by other external partners. The World Bank has a mandate to support the work of the NBI, as lead development partner and as administrator of the multi-donor Nile Basin Trust Fund. One of the partners is the "Nile Basin Discourse", which describes itself as "a civil society network of organisations seeking to achieve positive influence over the development of projects and programmes under the Nile Basin Initiative".
Bolivia has traditionally undertaken different water resources management approaches aimed at alleviating political and institutional instability in the water sector. The so-called water wars of 2000 and 2006 in Cochabamba and El Alto, respectively, added social unrest and conflict into the difficulties of managing water resources in Bolivia. Evo Morales’ administration is currently developing an institutional and legal framework aimed at increasing participation, especially for rural and indigenous communities, and separating the sector from previous privatization policies. In 2009, the new Environment and Water Resources Ministry was created absorbing the responsibilities previously under the Water Ministry. The Bolivian Government is in the process of creating a new Water Law – the current Water Law was created in 1906 – and increasing much needed investment on hydraulic infrastructure.
The Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, previously known as the Agricultural Research Station of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is an Israeli agricultural research center. It serves as the research arm of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the State of Israel and provides research opportunities for local and international scientists at post-graduate levels, as well as educational opportunities for Israeli and international youths, farmers and scientists. The organization supports Israeli agriculture research, focusing on plant sciences, animal sciences, plant protection, soil and environmental sciences, food sciences, and agricultural engineering. The organization was founded in 1921 in Ben Shemen, Israel, by Yitzhak Elazari Volcani, for whom it is named.
Environmental governance is a concept in political ecology and environmental policy that advocates sustainability as the supreme consideration for managing all human activities—political, social and economic. Governance includes government, business and civil society, and emphasizes whole system management. To capture this diverse range of elements, environmental governance often employs alternative systems of governance, for example watershed-based management.
The Sustainable Urban Development Network (SUD-Net) has as a goal to help impoverished areas gain access to food in a sustainable manner even in urbanized areas. SUD-Net plans to “contribute to livable, productive and inclusive cities which embrace social harmony, economic vitality and environmental sustainability…”
Water resource policy encompasses the policy-making processes that affect the collection, preparation, use and disposal of water to support human uses and protect environmental quality.
Sustainable land management (SLM) refers to practices and technologies that aim to integrate the management of land, water, biodiversity, and other environmental resources to meet human needs while ensuring the long-term sustainability of ecosystem services and livelihoods. The term sustainable land management is used, for example, in regional planning and soil or environmental protection, as well as in property and estate management.
The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) is an agency composed of commissioners representing the federal government, the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The ICPRB mission is to enhance, protect, and conserve the water and associated land resources of the Potomac River basin and its tributaries through regional and interstate cooperation.
The Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET) is a network of organizations committed to the sustainable development of the Greater Mekong Region. Launched in 2005, SUMERNET supports policy-relevant research and outreach activities to inform and engage policy-makers, planners and stakeholders. Within this context, it pursues an evolving agenda in response to questions and policy issues that arise in the region. Current research themes are climate-compatible development, regional economic integration, and ecosystem services and local development. The network works on a range of issues including natural ecosystems governance, floods and natural disasters, climate change and adaptation, and transboundary resource flows.
The Fraser Basin Council is a charitable non-profit organization devoted to advancing sustainability in the Fraser Basin and across BC. The mandate of the organization is, "To advance sustainability in British Columbia, with a core focus on the Fraser River Basin."